Coronavirus Pandemic
Desk Report
Published: 12 Jan 2022, 10:44 pm
Representational Image || Photo: Collected
The capital Dhaka
appears as COVID-19 epicenter as the fresh wave of the pandemic hit the country
with health officials reporting 11.68 percent infection rate overnight, while
the figure was 8.9 percent yesterday.
“This is for the
first time after the elapse of the (pandemic’s) second wave, when the infection
rate exceeded 10 percent,” a spokesman of the directorate general of health
services (DGHS) said, reports BSS.
He said Dhaka was
exposed to the worst wrath of the coronavirus onslaught as more than 80 percent
of the cases were detected in the capital city.
“We are visibly
going to be exposed to a fresh wave since the infection rate exceeded 10
percent,” health minister Zahid Maleque said on the sidelines of a programme.
Maleque’s comments
came a day after government announced an 11-point restriction for indefinite
period to halt the spread of Omicron variant of the virus.
The DGHS
statistics showed that the wave, what it appeared to be the third wave, hit the
capital first while the second wave began from south and northwestern areas.
The fresh wave,
however, is reported from across the globe following the emergence of the
Omicron variant of the virus from South Africa on November 25, 2021 and was
first detected in Bangladesh on December 11.
The DGHS in a
statement today reported 2,916 COVID-19 cases with 11.68 percent positivity
rate while it recorded 2,376 cases alone in Dhaka city and upazilas of this
central district in the past 24 hours.
The infection rate
was 8.97 percent yesterday and 8.53 percent on the day before yesterday.
According to World
Health Organization (WHO) the COVID-19 situation could be considered to be
under control if the infection rate remains within 5 percent for a straight
four-week period.
Under the WHO
standard Bangladesh remained well below the danger line for over three months
but authorities issued a fresh alert on November 27, 2021 for Bangladesh after
the outbreak of the highly contagious new variant.
WHO has declared
the omicron as a “variant of concern”.
"We have to
follow the directives set by the National Technical Advisory Committee on
COVID-19 to take effective steps for protecting people from the deadly
virus," Maleque said.
The minister,
however, said the government set a target to administer 280 million or 28 crore
vaccine doses including booster ones by April this year.
“We are receiving
huge quantity of vaccines every month,” he said adding that works were underway
to expedite the nationwide vaccination campaign.
He said over 50
milion of five crore people received two vaccine doses while 13 crore received
the first dose.